In this episode, Lone Frank shares insight about her book “The Pleasure Shock: The Rise of Deep Brain Stimulation and Its Forgotten Inventor” in which she delved into the academic life of a true pioneer of our field. Robert Heath invented deep brain stimulation in the 1950ies and was a remarkable pioneer of our field. Lone’s book takes us on a trip delving deep into the discoveries – but also controversies around Heath and his contemporaries, such as José Delgado and Frank Ervin.

References we talked about in the episode

• For more information about Lone, you can check out her website here.
• Lone’s book, The Pleasure Shock: The Rise of Deep Brain Stimulation and Its Forgotten Inventor can be obtained from Penguin Random House here.
• The accompanying film, Hunting for Hedonia, by Pernille Rose Grønkjær and narrated by Tilda Swinton can be purchased here (also available on other streaming services).
  
• A tribute to Jose Delgado in Scientific American
• Video of Robert Heath being inteviewed by Wallace Tomlinson
  

Further reading

• Review of “the pleasure shock” at nature written by Christian Lüscher.

Colleagues mentioned in the episode include

• Max Lapham (Dean of the Medical School in Tulane at the time of Heath’s recruitment)
• José Delgado (Neurosurgeon at Yale)
• Alim-Louis Benabid (Neurosurgeon in Grenoble)
• Pierre Pollak (Neurologist in Grenoble / Bern) – see episode #4 with Pierre
• Frank Ervin (Psychiatrist)
• Francisco Garcia (Neurosurgeon at Tulane)
• Helen Mayberg (Neurologist at Mt. Sinai, NYC) – see episode #2 with Helen
• António Egas Moniz (surgical Neurologist in Portugal)
• James Olds (Psychologist at McGill U, Canada)
• Peter Milner (Psychologist at McGill U, Canada)
• Daniel Freedman (Psychiatrist in Chicago)
• Alan Lipton (Psychiatrist in Miami)
• Robert Heath Jr. (Biologist, Heath’s son)
• Andres Lozano (Neurosurgeon in Toronto)
• Rick Schuurman (Neurosurgeon in Amsterdam)
• Thomas Schlaepfer (Psychiatrist in Freiburg)
• Volker Coenen (Neurosurgeon in Freiburg)
• Michael Okun (Neurologist in Gainesville, Florida)
• Kelly Foote (Neurosurgeon in Gainesville, Florida)
• Marwan Hariz (Neurosurgeon in Umeå, Sweden) – see episode #3 with Marwan
• Alik Widge (Psychiatrist in Minneapolis)
• Darin Dougherty (Pychiatrist in Boston)
• Don Gallant (Neuroscientist in Tulane)
• David Merrick (Patient operated by Heath)
• Günther Deuschl (Neurologist in Kiel) – see episode #5 with Günther
• Pernille Rose Grønkjær (Film Directory, see above)
• Wallace Tomlinson (Psychiatrist at Tulane)